An epidemic of coxsackievirus B3 infection in infants and children in Jiangsu Province, China: a prospective cohort study

To investigate the epidemiological data on coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection and its incidence in infants and children, a prospective cohort study was carried out from 2012 to 2014 in Jiangsu Province, China. According to the results of seropositive rates and NTAb titers of CVB3, an epidemic of CVB3 infection was found, and a dynamic change in CVB3 neutralizing antibody was also observed. One case was recorded with CVB3-associated hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), and the isolates belonged to the CVB3 D2 subtype. Our data help us to better understand the epidemic characteristics of CVB3 infection in infants and children.